The Motor Girls Through New England.
by Margaret Penrose.
CHAPTER I
THE SHADOW
"Look, girls! There"s a man!"
"Where?"
"Just creeping under the dining-room window!"
"What can he want--looks suspicious!"
"Oh, I"m afraid to go in!"
"Hush! We won"t go in just now!"
"If only the boys were here!"
"Well, don"t cry--they will be here soon."
"See! He"s getting under the fence! There he goes!"
"Did you get a look at him?"
"Yes, a good look. I"ll know him next time."
Bess, Belle and Cora were holding this whispered conversation. It was Belle, the timid, who wanted to cry, and it was Cora who had really seen the man--got the good look. Bess did say she wished the boys were around, but Bess had great confidence in those boys, and this remark, when a man was actually sneaking around Clover Cottage, was perfectly pardonable.
The motor girls had just returned from a delightful afternoon ride along the sh.o.r.e road at Lookout Beach. Bess and Belle Robinson, otherwise Elizabeth and Isabel, the twins, were in their little car--the _Flyaway_--and Cora Kimball was driving her fine, four-cylinder touring affair, both machines having just pulled up in front of Clover Cottage, the summer home of the Robinsons.
"Did the boys say they would come directly from the post-office?" asked Belle, as she eyed the back fence suspiciously.
"Yes, they had to drop some mail in the box. We won"t attempt to go in until they come. At any rate, I have a little something to do to the _Whirlwind_," and Cora pulled off her gloves, and started to get a wrench out of the tool box.
"I"ll get busy, too," declared Bess. "It will look better in case our friend happens to come around the corner."
"No danger," and Cora glanced up from the tool box. "I fancy that gentleman is not of the type that runs into facts."
"Do you think he is a burglar?" asked Belle.
"Well, I wouldn"t say just that. But he certainly is not straightforward. And that is a bad sign," replied Cora.
"And not a person in the house to help us," sighed Belle. "Oh, I don"t see why mamma----"
"Now, Belle Robinson!" interrupted her sister. "You know perfectly well that mamma had to take Nellie and Rose over to Drifton. They have to get ready for school."
"Mamma fusses a lot over those two girls," continued Belle. "It seems to me a lucky thing they happened to run away--our way."
This remark was lost upon Bess and Cora. Bess was intent upon something--nothing definite--about the _Flyaway_, while Cora was working a.s.siduously trying to adjust a leaky valve.
The prospect of dark coming on with no one but themselves about the cottage, and the late appearance of the strange man, kept each one busy thinking. Presently Belle exclaimed:
"Oh, here come the boys!" and without waiting for the young men to turn the corner, which marked the end of the Clover Cottage grounds, she ran along with the news.
Jack Kimball, Cora"s brother, Walter Pennington, his chum, and Ed Foster, the friend of both, sauntered along.
"I suppose Belle will say we had a bandit," remarked Cora, with a laugh, "but to tell the truth, Bess, I did not like the fellow"s looks." She closed the engine bonnet and hurried to the sidewalk.
"Neither did I," replied Bess, "but it never does to let Belle know how we feel. She is so nervous!"
"I"m glad the boys are here," finished Cora.
"Oh, I"m always glad when they are here," confessed Bess, stepping up beside Cora, as the two waited for Belle and the young men to come up the gravel walk.
"h.e.l.lo, there!" saluted Jack. "More haunted house?"
"No, only more haunts," replied Cora. "Guess he didn"t like the style of the house."
"Oh, you girls are too fussy," said Ed. "Seems to me if I were a young lady, and saw a young chap hanging under my window, I"d be sort of flattered."
"We prefer the hanging done in the open," exclaimed Bess. "Besides, he didn"t hang--he sneaked."
"He crawled," declared Belle.
"No, I distinctly saw him creep," corrected Cora.
"Mere baby, evidently," hazarded Walter.
"Well, I suppose he was after----"
"Grub," interrupted Jack. "The creeping, crawling, sneaking kind invariably want grub. It was a shame to let him go off hungry."
They all took seats upon the broad piazza, after the boys, by a casual look, were satisfied that no intruder was about the grounds. Belle kept close to Ed--he was the largest of the young men--but Cora and Bess showed no signs of fear.
"Let"s tell you about it," began Bess.
"Let"s," agreed Walter.
"Then listen," ordered the young lady with the very rosy cheeks.
"Listen while they let"s," teased Jack.
"I won"t say one word," declared Bess; "not if the fellow comes down the chimney----"